Transportation

The Planning Commission advises the city on its efforts to develop policies and action plans to make Seattle's transportation system accessible and convenient for transit users, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and freight and to encourage smart transportation choices by providing people with options.

Transportation

Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement

For the past several years, we have participated in reviewing plans for replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and redevelopment of the Central Waterfront. During various stages of the planning process we provided recommendations to City Council, the Mayor, and the Governor. These recommendations can be viewed below.

Maintenance and Improvements of Transportation Systems

August 2011 - we supported new revenues to maintain City streets, add important safety measures, optimize existing transit service and construct the important downtown Rapid Streetcar connection and high capacity transit for the Ballard or Eastlake corridors. Read our August 10, 2011 recommendations.

Multimodal Plans

New vision "Riding a bicycle is a comfortable and integral part of daily life in Seattle for people of all ages and abilities."

We are pleased to see many of the elements of the plan and share the new vision for bicycling in Seattle. We have evaluated each part of the plan and have several recommendations that will make the plan stronger. Read our recommendations!

Parking Policies

May 2009 - We provided recommendations to the City Council on proposed changes to the RPZ policy.

June 2008 - Our comments to SDOT on the department's draft recommendations of the Residential Parking Zone policy.

Seattle Transit Communities

Starting with the release of our Seattle Transit Communities Report in 2010 we have promoted a citywide transit communities strategy. This strategy would support more inclusive, affordable, and diverse neighborhoods and help maximize investment in major transit projects by locating housing, jobs, and services close enough to transit so that more people will have a faster and more convenient way to travel.

A transit community is a place where a neighborhood is integrated with transit, where coordinated public and private investments improve neighborhood quality, and where proactively planning for change can create or enhance a place where people of all ages and income levels can live in a complete community and access frequent, reliable transit. If you are interested in learning more about our Seattle Transit Communities work.

Since 2010 we have worked with City Council and the Mayor to incorporate this language and values into the Comprehensive Plan, our guiding growth document, and our work is chronicled below.

Planning Commission Chair David Cutler talks about Transit Communities at March 14th, 2013 Public Hearing.

Sound Transit

Since the passage of Sound Move, we have been monitoring and reviewing Sound Transit's progress in building regional transit. As well as actively assisting the City of Seattle with station area planning and reviewing the design and planning elements of the Central Link Rail.

SR520 Replacement

Washington State is planning to replace the State Route 520 Bridge extending from Seattle to the eastside of the county. This corridor is critical to the region and the City of Seattle. We undertook an extensive review of the SR 520 Bridge Replacement Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) providing comments to both Washington State Department of Transportation and the City Council. November 2006 - Our recommended preferred alternative for the 520 Replacement.